A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Reminder: Rock & Roll Marathon Saturday

Just a quick reminder not to be caught off-guard by Saturday's marathon. As you can see from the map, the runners head down H Street from 4th through 13th. This means that H Street will be closed from roughly 8am-12:30pm. Ditto for K Street, and don't try to travel on that stretch of 13th before 1pm. For those driving that day, the organizers have put together a map of proposed alternate travel routes if your intended path is blocked. Your best bet is probably to grab a coffee (or maybe a beer since it is St. Patrick's Day) and watch the runners as they pass by.

25 comments:

Anonymous
said...

STANTON SEZ: The city must do something so reduce the number of these disruptive races, or put them somewhere and at hours they can minimize the inconvenience to so many residents. Most cities have one major marathon. for some reason, DC has allowed multiple of these things, with seemingly little consideration about the impact on residents. Depending on where you live residents in some areas become prisoner. You can't run errands that require driving because of road closures. Yes, it's wonderful people want to run and be healthy. I support you folks. Do it in your neighborhood. see how quickly you'll get annoyed at the repeated inconvenience.This is especially true for Capitol Hill because it appears the same route is used by all these marathons and 5ks and half Ks and walk for charity. Let's put some of these races in the Palisades, Friendship Hts, Georgetown, to share the joy.

I understand Stanton Sez's feeling trapped, but with a little advanced planning most residents should be able to either move their car outside of the race area the night before, or use proposed alternative routes. It stinks when you're caught off guard, but it's not hard to plan ahead if you pay attention. Changing your errand schedule to the afternoon, or making alternative transportation plans for work should, for most people be fairly simple.

The positive effect of having all of these runners/runner-supporters travel down H, seeing new businesses open, seeing the repaved streets and sidewalks, is a big plus for the neighborhood!

Stanton Sez reply to @11:29:don't blame the entire blog for my one comment. you took it as overly negative. but it's simply a commentary on how many of these things we have in this one area. i may be wrong and in that case completely disregard it. and yes, it's true with planning, i and many others park cars outside the perimeter the night before. i usually cheer the runners, too. but i don't think it's unreasonable to spark a discussion of how many of these races and resulting closures the city permits in one section of the city. like i said, share the joy. another way the city could lessen the impact is require the races to start at 5 or 6 am. so the closures are over by 1030am. many people have irregular work schedules and need precious Sat morning time to run errands. it's a working city, so a little consideration for residents shouldn't cause that much strain for the runners.

How many of these things do we really have? You make it sound like this is happening every weekend. All of the streets that are closed to traffic have parallel streets that can used and even if you're trapped inside the loop like I am, you can still cross all of these streets (by car or foot). it just means you have to sit a couple minutes at the intersection until the cops wave you through. The last couple years I've never had a problem getting out or back in to the neighborhood during the marathon. At most it added about 5 minutes to my commute.

I have to say I find it disruptive as well. I don't drive, so the impact on bus routes and the metro is a huge problem for me. I've also waited as long as 15 minutes to be able to cross the street (I find that the police are more likely to wave you back than through). I'm all for moving the routes around. One race a year I can deal with and even enjoy. More than that, not so much.

What I wish is that they'd move the Capitol Building out of Capitol Hill. I can't tell you how many times I've been inconvenienced just because of an Inauguration or State of the Union Address. I'm sick of everyone acting like DC is the Capitol of the United States or something...

This is a very expensive race for the city to support a feel good hobby. It costs DC residents a lot of tax dollars for police overtime because the city waivers the fees every year. This year, DC Council chair K.Brown is running in the run, do you think that the fees will not get waivered yet again? Keep in mind, we apparently don't have the money to hold the Ward 5 election for City Council.By the Capitol nor Tidal Basin are not in a residential areas, nor are they a profit making company.

@Anon (1:54) - Are you sure that the race organizers are not paying for the police overtime? Can you point me to something that says that? It's not that I don't believe you, but there was a bru-ha-ha re paying police overtime for the Capitol Hill Classic, and I would find it strange if the organizers of this longer for-profit race did not have to pay but the organizers of the shorter fundraiser did. Thanks

BTW, I also live in the loop but don't feel overburdened by the races.

As we have know the race route for weeks now thanks to the advanced distribution of the flyers..I find it helpful and not at all inconvenient to adjust what I am doing and my schedule for doing it. My son usually picks me up for the granddaughter's soccer practice at Gally..but I told him to just meet me there and even sent him the street closures so that he can plan his route to there from his home..No biggie to us..People, get over it. Yes some cities only have one large race a year..but we are a destination and I welcome the folks that will be seeing H St for the first time..even those who have run it before may notice the improvements that have been made. Some may even come back after they are done and visit some of our local businesses and drop some bucks here.Lighten up..

Thanks for providing some sense to this discussion. People are complaining about this annual event. That's once a year that a marathon runs through the east side of Washington DC. The revenue earned from the race (drawing tens of thousands of people to the city to stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants, use the metro system and stay a few extra days) far outweighs the petty inconvenience of having to wait to cross a street or having to figure out where to park your car for a day. Marathons can be big money-makers for the cities that host them (source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594270090488434.html).

Plan ahead and deal with the inconvenience for the sake of all the tens of thousands of other people who actually enjoy the event!

I for one look forward to the marathon every year. It, like neighborhood cleanup day, is a great way to get outside and get to know your neighbors. Make some coffee, grab a lawn chair, and cheer on the runners! Errands can wait until later in the day (or as someone else mentioned, it is pretty easy to get across the course if you desire).

Last year it was more than a minor inconvenience. There were no flyers put on my block, I had no advance notice, and when I returned to the Hill after a necessary trip to the airport I was denied access to my neighborhood for about an hour and a half.

The race volunteers and MPD had no clue on where to send people. Instead, we sat on Mass Ave essentially double parked, blocked in on both ends of the block, as no one knew where to go or when we could get back into our neighborhood.

But to me the bus detours is the crazy part. Mostly people taking the bus on a Saturday morning are working folks, going to work.

I hate that I can't drive down to Starbucks to get my morning latte! Who do these people think they are?? And what about H Street getting shut down with no advance warning so the president could eat dinner? The nerve! I'm moving back to Arkansas.

As someone who doesn't have the luxury of running around on Saturdays because I have to be at work, I have a suggestion if anyone who actually can make a difference is reading.

First, I left a half hour before the streets were supposed to be closed figuring I would just spend a little longer at work. Wrong. Turns out the streets were closed earlier than I was informed. Throwing that out there so all the "little extra planning" people can shove it up their...

Anyway, you might think I'm against these races. I'm not. But, here's the suggestion, how about DC suspend the meters that need to be paid when these events take place and you can't drive to your parking space. Not even for me, for my friends At least two people I work with were only able to get as close as metered parking and walked out (one while closures were still in effect) to find tickets on top of inconvenience. I know you need money DC, but isn't that a little much?

This was a disaster this year (and I'm a runner who participates in my share of road races). I had done my advance planning and had copies of the road closures and race course printed out. It was OK to use 3rd St NE to get off the Hill via the Hopscotch Bridge, however there was absolutely no way to get back in to the neighborhood around the Maryland Ave NE vicinity. They closed off traffic on 14th Street NE heading southbound from Florida Ave contrary to all prior notice. Luckily, I was able to abandon my car about 5 blocks from my house and walk back with everything I needed to my house. I know other neighbors who weren't so fortunate and had to wait 3 hours til roads were opened at 12.30pm to return. It's wrong that the race course is approved that doesn't provide at least ONE way for people to return to their homes...even it's it's a slow drive due to increased volume through the open road.